Before the Shadow fell
by Hollis V. Saxon
Summary: The letters and events between the wanderer and Mono before the game


**Disclaimer - Nothing is mine. Kakariko is **Nintendo's

* * *

"

"_Mono! Mono!" my mother used to call to me, beckoning me to return to her. Nowadays she uses it to warn people of my presence. "Tainted by the lord of the dead, the creature is," say the villagers to unwary travelers. I'm now alone, barely a ghost of what the man that fought for in the silent lands. I don't mind telling you this, but please come and show your face to me someday! The villagers call you 'slayer of holy relics', calling you the priest's bane, and much crueler things. Only if you come and prove them wrong! If only-_

_I could be in public and we would hav-_

_It's too much for you to handle, isn't it? St-_

_And then called 'Demon Lov-_

_For I would truly know that yo-_

_High hopes for your arrival o-_

_Love, Mono_

"

Her latest letter told me through the tear, wishing I could read what it used to say. I felt regretful that I couldn't tell her that I had left the world she was in, and if I had at one point in time, her speech patterns would dictate that I had been spiritually not mentally removed from her world.

It pained me so that we were all that they say, touched by the '_shimigami'_, or reaper of the soul, as they said here, and I was destroying relics of a religion of a kind, being that 'priest's bane'.

However, the relics weren't artifacts or treasures of some lost civilization. No, these were beast crafted from sand, earth, and flesh, or as both languages said, Colossi, sacred beings that rose out of the ground several weeks ago, bastards by literal definition. I had gathered two others on my quest to seal them away, Marith and Bleiys. Both had been bouncers for famous taverns and guilds, it was their unfortunate fate that I came to their workplaces and asked for assistance. Neither liked facing either's superior, but nor liked facing danger. It was my bane and boon that rival entrepreneurs systematically destroyed the guilds afterwards. They hid their shame by destroying several of the participating factions, only to be saved by the hands of the lord.

"You still reading Mono's letters?" Bleiys asked. "Can you even read them? They're torn to shreds!" The man, now in his late forties, shook his withering forehead in disagreement, placing his hand to ease the headache that came after.

"What's this one say?" Marith asked, half interested. He leaned half-assed on the door, weaving a stone over his sword.

"If you make any more grooves to that thing, it's going to break," Bleiys warned.

"Have you readied your own axe?" I asked the old man, well opposed to the fifty-nine year old Marith, standing and walking over to the eldest, her letter in my hand.

"Yeah, kinda. It'll be rusted by the time we find your 'Colossé' anyway, if they do exist," Bleiys said mockingly. It was true, I've seen one here, which it looked like a horse, but it hasn't shown since winter hit.

"She's all alone now, how sad. If your going to send her one soon, tell her I send my sympathies, Demon Lover," Marith said, almost sarcastically.

"'Demon Lover'? Let me see that letter!" Bleiys demanded, snatching it out of Marith's hands. "Bwa ha ha! Demon lover, shimigami slut! Priest's bane! What a joke this girl is! Wha ha ha ha!"

"It's the neighborhood, not the girl, that's the joke," I was about to say, but Marith beat me to it. We let Bleiys carry on his rude laughter when the ground shook. "The beast?" the elder asked me.

"I can assume so," I told him. Grabbing our weapons and a sealing rune, we ran outside. Sure enough, it was the horse, but it had grown. I saw the flash in the eyes of the beast; Bleiys nearly fell on his rear.

"You gots to be shiting my leg! How the hell..." Bleiys shouted, panicking.

"'And I could care less how many there were', is that what I said when I joined you?" Marith calmly asked.

"Something to that effect," I replied. "We don't have to kill it, just weaken."

"Alrighty then, ATTACK!" Bleiys said charging. The demon horse eyes registered orangish red, seeing the dwarf charge at it. I followed to the left with Marith mirroring me to the right. The horse buckled in front, then quickly rising, efficiently causing it to jump. The old dwarf, expecting to parry the creature, began to hold his axe as if under throwing it. We took a moment and climbed the mountain hills on either side. Hoping the dwarf was enough distraction, we communicated a means of attack, me going to impale its head and him disable the torso.

The horse came down from its jump, and nearly squashed Bleiys, who succeeded in cutting the creature to the break in his axe and piledrived himself into the ground with the remaining force, eating a mouthful of snow and slush. "Mother," he swore, rising out of the white pellets. We jumped onto the back and hoped it didn't notice, and I ran on to the head. On the way an area of flesh lit up, and I stopped and stared. Behind me Marith called to me. "The flesh seems only skin deep!" that both bothered me and gave me an idea.

"Try right here!" I called back. I hurried on and came to a place right behind the head, and it turned to an impasse. I heard Marith stab the creature where I indicated and the beast shivered, as well as a jet of liquid. I dropped to my knees and held on to what fur there was, looking toward Marith. He was covered in black viscous liquid, and was stabbing the monster repeatedly. Soon the lights dimmed and the liquid stopped pouring out. Marith brushed as much as the liquid off quickly as the situation called for. I turned back to the neck and found a barely visible patch of light, which I stabbed the heck out of.

When the light dimmed, the horse buckled and threw its head down, creating a path to the top of its head. I couldn't see Bleiys, so I assumed he had gone under the demon and hacked its underside. When the creature recovered, it threw its head every which way and stood, vigorously shaking its body. Marith fell from the back, to a place unknown. Feeling Marith fall, it continued walking towards its destination: unknown.

The patch on its head I was now standing on lit up. The entire surface brimmed with the crystalline light, and I was honored to be right there to put it out. A rage from seeing this thing keep me from going back to Mono for several seasons filled me. "I finally found you, and I'm truly grateful that you showed yourself. And I'm gratefully honored to be the one to kill you," I thanked it. The horse not hearing me, continued to walk casually. I focused the last of my strength into the sword and struck down upon the creature I was riding. The sword touched the mind of this creature, and the sword plummeted through the chin, me following. The blood of the demon spewing out above me, I pulled the rune and held it to the monster. A drop of the black, murky blood dripped from the gaping wound and into the rune, causing the rune to activate and the following wind tunnel sucked it up without killing it.

After the tunnel abated, I looked at the top and saw the face of the horse imprinted onto the stone. Its over, I thought, smiling. I walked back to the site of the battle and found that Marith was following the path of our target, limping and barely grasping his sword. I threw his arm over my shoulder and carried him to where the dwarf was. Bleiys had dislocated his shoulders and leg but wasn't caring. I would have to return for him. I half dragged Marith back to camp, put on some hot water, and went back out to get our resting comrade.

"

_Mono, dear. I finally am able to travel to your village. However, I cannot stay. So I would like to take you on my journeys and eventually marry you. I will find a place where we can live without history or troubles. If you still desire my name, it I-_

_I wander from place to place, hoping t-_

_I could live in every day, but the hells d-_

_From staying in one place. Granted thi-_

_Unexpected, I found a place wh-_

_Us, and no history can purg-_

_Solitude and misery, no dev-_

_Black as night, or claws as s-_

_Regarding your last l-_

_Comrades read it and they agr-_

_Them wishes you'll be safe and ha-_

_Wishing a safe passage, W-_

"

"Hah! Even he wants to get rid of you!" the elder said as she read the final line. "He found a place with solitude and misery and is black as night! I thought he wanted to marry you!" The rest of her audience laughed along. However, they laughed loudly, hoping to hide their nervousness. He was coming, as his letter said, but who should I look for? "Finally we have a solution to be free of this creature!" a youngster shouted. The nervous tension dissipated and people truly started laughing.

"Wait! People!" an unnerving cry broke the hysteria. As the laughter died down, a kid maybe ten shifted nervously. "If she's being taken by someone that's coming here, who could that only be?" the child cried. After a moment, most people gasped. The ones who didn't were told quickly and they too were struck by horror. I took that as my queue to leave. And of course none dared to stop me.

"

_Dear W,_

_W is the letter I use most often in thought, since the letter of the unexpected find. When will W be here? Where is W now? What does W look like? Is W coming? Does W know where to go? Since I haven't seen W yet, I think W is lost. The village W needs to go to is Kakariko, three days north of the silent lands. If I could guess by the mailman's arrivals and the condition of the letter (the entire right side was soggy), W is near the western mountains or the lakebed._

_I don't think W knows what me or my home looks like, so I've included a picture that a passing artist drew. Luckily, he was nice and didn't care what the villagers said I was. Oh, I missed the part of the letter where your comrades agreed. The villagers thought they hated me! Oh, I should warn you: the villagers are trying to identify you, W. they said W is a demon worse than what I am! Either that or someone who is trying to rid the rest of the world of me._

_Sorry this is really long! I'll be waiting for you, W!_

_Love, Mono_

"

Strange, this is in pristine condition. "Did the villagers Send you, boy?" I asked the kid who brought the mail instead of the mailman.

"Nope, just got tired of receiving beat up mail," the kid openly told me.

"What did you do with the real mailman?" Marith asked the kid.

"Followed him and took every thing he didn't need," the boy said in an irritating tone.

"What do we call you?" Isabella, another demon hunter, asked the kid.

"Iron Bird," he said in a joking manner.

"Damn it boy!" Marith shouted, nearly lunging at him. And he would injure him, too, if he weren't trying to recover. A smile broke out on the young man's face, taunting the injured man. "Tell me your name."

'Iron Bird' lifted his hand, saying, "wait." As if he called it, a rumble echoed, signaling a Colossus. Iron started to walk out of the room but Isabella caught him by his wrists. She took a bit of the leather she had, and tied him to Marith's bed.

"Stay," she told him, and we walked out of the bar. At first we didn't see it, then it sailed the wind above us, knocking over bell tower and tall temple both. The Colossus was the bird. "How many runes have you filled?" Isabella asked me hastily.

"Three," I answered.

"I've got eleven. Most from other hunters. Have you any more runes? I'm out," she told me.

"No, but at least eleven plus three is fourteen." I thought I had at least one more.

"Ha!" a voice said above us. We turned to see Iron on the tavern roof smiling, holding a unique sword and a rune.

"Where did you get those?" Isabella yelled at him.

"Off the mailman," Iron said. Pocketing the rune, he whistled, attracting the bird's attention. The bird swooped down at Iron and Iron disappeared from his perch. Soon, he was on the birds back and moving. When he went past us, he yelled something at us, but I only heard him say, "Kakariko!" and disappeared with the bird.

"Lets go," Isabella told me. I stood there watching the spot where the two vanished for a few moments, then turned back. "He'll be okay," she said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But now where do we go?" I asked her.

"That you, Wilhelm?" Marith asked. He walked out of the room he was in carrying a book. Handing me a book, he said, "If you're wondering where Kakariko is, look under 'Graveyard'." I looked at the book, which was a pocket atlas, and looked up 'graveyard'. Sure enough, there was Kakariko. Southeast of the mountains the horse demon was, north of the silent lands, and south of the capital. For its status as 'graveyard', it was located near the center of the map.

"Thanks, Marith," I said respectively.

"Hey, if you need to get there quickly, you can ditch me. I still need to heal," he offered.

"I'll stay to watch over him. Oh," Isabella reached into her bag and brought out a smaller container. "These need to go with you since you're going south after this. I'd recommend returning these before you enter the village. I'm sure 'Iron Bird' will be there as well."

Taking the bag of sealed beasts, I thanked her loaded my gear, and left.

The silent lands, the southernmost tip of the continent, named such due to the reason none dare come here. "Not a pretty sight from up here, isn't it?" Iron Bird said solemnly.

"Not a chance," I agreed. "You ready to release these creatures?"

"Yep," Leo said, the last member of this group.

"Here's the first one," Iron said, releasing the bull onto the lands. One at a time, the beasts were released over the quiet region. Each of the Colossi went their separate ways, finding a home for themselves. The last two had gone to the southern part of the area and combined, lowering the number of Colossi from seventeen to sixteen. Luckily, the fusion caused the new colossi to be bound to the ground. Leo had to take the bird from Iron to release it. Fortunately, none of them tried to escape or turn around.

"That's all?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, such a disappointment," Iron complained.

"You want to wrestle with them?" I asked

"I just hoped there was more."

"Well, I'll stay out of your boat," Leo joked.

"Want to come with us? We're heading over to Kakariko village," I asked him.

"Nah, I have plans. Actually, the villagers say that they're burning a demon in a few days, so I might head over there," Leo told us.

"Demon?" Iron asked. I didn't dare ask.

"Yeah, there's a girl who's actually a demon. Luckily, she hasn't the power to defend herself anymore. Unfortunately, now there's a more powerful one that's coming to get her. They hope if they get rid of the girl the greater demon will stay away," he explained.

"Thanks for the info, Leo!" Iron thanked him.

"Sure!" mounting his horse, Leo turned back and waved goodbye. "Be safe!" he called.

"The demon girl bothering you?" Iron asked me when Leo disappeared.

"No, the girl isn't a demon, the villagers are," I commented.

"Well, we best hurry." We packed what remained of the camp and set out for Kakariko village.

_Dear Mono,_

_This letter will be my last, for there is no need for letters when we are together. _

No, no this couldn't be happening.

_And I'll deliver this letter personally, so there will be no gap passing from my hand into yours, caused by space and land and trees._

There was no blood. There was none of his blood.

_It will be in perfect condition, just like your last one._

I ran and grabbed the shoulders of the young man, and I begged him to be the one who sent me the letters. He just turned away.

_We'll live in peace with our friends, and we'll make new ones._

He closed the door and locked it at the sound of approaching footsteps. "Don't say a word," he told me as he pushed me against the wall.

_We'll get married and have a child. I've got names prepared in case it's either a girl or a boy._

"No," I told the boy, and he merely laughed. He turned around and stood over him.

_How about Bleiys if it's a boy and Kris if it's a girl?_

The young man grabbed a plant-like object and put it in Wilhelm's mouth. Saying the command word, the item sparkled and entered Wilhelm's body.

_If you've got a name lets hear it! Well, we can't eat names and I don't want to eat a child, so we'll just have to find something when we get there._

Miraculously, Wilhelm's blood reversed course and reentered his body. He stood, looking much younger than he was, and checked his motions. But as he finished, a cross bolt flew into the room.

_We could live forever._

My blood stained the wall. Where had it come from? "Mono!" Wilhelm called to me. The young man pulled his sword and slashed the person standing just inside the door.

"Go to the silent lands! There's someone there that could help you!" the boy shouted. "You can use my horse Agro!"

"Okay!" thanked Wilhelm. "Are you going to be okay, Iron?"

"Forget me! Leave!" Iron said, hacking the next contestant. Wilhelm wrapped me in a cloth blanket and carried me through the back. Mounting the horse, Agro, Wilhelm rode on to the silent lands.


End file.
